The government today unveiled a further expansion of private sector involvement in family doctor and community health services.

Health minister John Hutton announced an additional investment of between £150m and £225m from the private sector to build new state-of the-art community health centres.

Patients would be able to access services including GPs, health visitors, dentists, a pharmacy, a cardiology clinic, x-ray facilities, and childcare in these so-called "super-surgeries". Mr Hutton also wants the health centres to provide diagnostic tests and out-of-hours care.

The new surgeries will be funded via NHS Lift (local improvement finance trust) - a £1bn public-private partnership to build new primary care premises. They will be developed by primary care trusts (PCTs) in partnership with private companies.

Mr Hutton invited PCTs to place bids for the new surgeries. The successful bids are expected to be announced in November.

The first "super surgery" is expected to open in September in Newham, east London. Another 20 Lift health centres are currently under construction and building work should begin on a further 30 by the end of the year.